Administration’s Plan Embraces Getting More Generic and Biosimilar Medicines to Patients
WASHINGTON DC (May 11, 2018) – In President Trump’s remarks today at the White House, he made clear the essential role that generic and biosimilar medicines play in containing prescription drug costs for patients.
“President Trump’s embrace of generic and biosimilar competition as a key to lowering brand-name drug prices is an important step forward for patients coping with skyrocketing health care costs,” says Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM) President and CEO Chester “Chip” Davis, Jr.. “Patients will benefit most from meaningful initiatives that ensure robust competition and timely access to these life-saving medicines.”
In anticipation of today’s speech, AAM CEO Chip Davis enumerated specific ways the president can enhance generic and biosimilar competition to provide patients with relief from the high prices of brand-name drugs, published at http://bit.ly/POTUSRxSpeech.
In addition to the president’s speech today, the administration and its health care policy officials recently have provided briefings and remarks giving a more complete understanding of the direction of their plan to lower drug prices. The outline given by the president and the administration includes:
- Increasing market-based competition for more generic and biosimilar medicines
- Combating branded pharmaceutical company “shenanigans” with FDA’s safety rules
- Highlighting branded pharmaceutical company gaming of the patent system to extend monopolies
- Eliminating co-pays for generics and biosimilars for low-income seniors in Medicare Part D
The president announced that his administration is seeking input. A formal Request for Information (RFI) is being issued and AAM will submit comments.
“Manufacturers of generic and biosimilar medicines look forward to working with President Trump, Secretary Azar and the entire administration to ensure these safe, effective, FDA-approved therapies are accessible to patients so they may find relief from the high prices of brand-name drugs,” adds Davis.
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